Never thought I'd do it- Cancelled.

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Oops, I just jumped in at the back end of the thread.

No worries! It's 19 pages at this point, I'd probably do the same if I was just joining in

 

[igrsod]

I'm not ready to give up on Disney yet, but this was the first trip that I too felt glad I went but not sad to be leaving and not excited to be coming back. I hope that with time, staff and supplies that Disney will right the ship. It's not heading in a direction currently that many are happy with. What made me willing to spend my money was the magic, the worry free trip that I had planned in advance (no getting up early every morning hoping to book rides), the great cast member interactions, the shows, the things that happen just as you're walking down the street (citizens of hollywood I'm missing you guys). If these things don't return, then sadly neither will my family.

 

[V.B.]

Canceled our Jan week. I was on the fence and wavered but a today, after a 2 1/2 hour wait in disneys Chat mode, I just canceled it all. I did not rebook for later ‘22.
I did notice that they now ask Why one canceled. Perhaps when they hear more, they’ll react. ? We can Hope..
Stay Safe All!!

Wow, they are asking? A good time to mention that the prices for taking more away (no EMH's, less parades, price increases, etc, etc) is why. If not many were cancelling, they wouldn't ask.

 

[V.B.]

Canceled our Jan week. I was on the fence and wavered but a today, after a 2 1/2 hour wait in disneys Chat mode, I just canceled it all. I did not rebook for later ‘22.
I did notice that they now ask Why one canceled. Perhaps when they hear more, they’ll react. ? We can Hope..
Stay Safe All!!

Wow, they are asking? A good time to mention that the prices for taking more away (no EMH's, less parades, price increases, etc, etc) is why. If not many were cancelling, they wouldn't ask.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I was talking about your comment and the other person's. The vast majority of people who say USO doesn't require planning compared to WDW are doing so because of what I mentioned. That's all the point I was making. I don't plan the same amount as I know a lot of people do for WDW but even I get the remarked difference between USO and WDW in that respect. It's so relaxing at USO when so much of the stuff doesn't exist that does at WDW even of you personally don't utilize all the things at WDW that exist there. Clearly YMMV but many people say they'll go over to USO because it doesn't have the stuff that Disney does. You disagree that's fine just explaing, spend some time over on the Universal Boards it's fun

Anyways carry on, not really the point of this thread to compare merits of a USO vacation in depth.

Not sure why you were trying to explain my own point to me. I knew exactly what I was referring to. That is all. But nothing new... moving on.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not sure why you were trying to explain my own point to me. I knew exactly what I was referring to. That is all. But nothing new... moving on.

Okay

 

[Davey Jones II]

The last time I went to UOR (in 2016) wait times were short on weekdays. The only time an Express Pass would be helpful was on weekends, when wait times for popular rides balooned. Is that not the case now?

 

[StageTek]

The last time I went to UOR (in 2016) wait times were short on weekdays. The only time an Express Pass would be helpful was on weekends, when wait times for popular rides balooned. Is that not the case now?

That would depend on when...

During peak season the lines are long on weekdays and Express would be worth it. If you go during a slow time you will still find wait times are short on weekdays.

 

[Jrb1979]

I always spend just as much time planning my Universal days as my Disney days. And the same for any and every vacation I take. But its never really been much for me for Disney at all, and I find it to be significantly less now than ever.

Planning is planning, I don't believe I ever specified what specific kind of planning I was referring to.

For my family our extent of planning is booking our flight, hotel, car and tickets to whatever we plan to visit. We don't book restaurants ahead of time or what we are doing each day. We make it up as we go and it works great. It's my one biggest gripe with Disney is the amount of non sensical planning involved.

 

[DCLMP]

I know it's different for everyone. Judging by the cancellations and people opting for other places now I would say people aren't finding the value now.

Funny how it’s still packed then.

 

[DCLMP]

The UO express pass model would have to be priced at something like $500 per person per day at Disney to make it work. And no freebies for Deluxe guests.

If Disney doesn't want to go that far, I think they could make Genie+ substantially more effective by substantially raising the price. If you had the same basic rules as now --- one LL and a time (or stacked every two hours) and limit of one LL per ride --- but raised the price to, say, $99 per person per day, then far fewer people would purchase it. (In fact, you would need to cap the number sold to make sure that the value is there.) If far fewer were sold, then those who bought it really would be able to skip the line at every ride, and really would get great value from it, even on crowded days. And, since far fewer people would be using it, the standby lines would not be nearly as bad as they are right now. That's a win / win for everyone. Including Disney, since the revenue generated would be about the same as what they are getting now.

I would use scaled pricing: something like $49 on regular days, $74 on busy days, $99 on crowded days. And I would cap the number sold at about 1/4 of the number they are selling right now. I'm not sure whether or not I personally would buy them for my family. But it would be nice to know that, if I did buy them, I would get real value from them. Unlike the current situation.

We visited Disneyland for 3 days last week. Since the majority of the guests were local annual pass holders very few people bought it. We were able to skip the line for every ride going from one ride to the next. It was well worth the money since we only visit once every couple of years. I haven’t t tried it at WDW yet, but it does not sound like I’m going to have the same type of experience.

 

[Jrb1979]

Funny how it’s still packed then.

Yes it's busy but not like it normally is. I have seen more posts saying people aren't in a hurry to go back.

 

[V.B.]

Yes it's busy but not like it normally is. I have seen more posts saying people aren't in a hurry to go back.

I'm wondering if some of the busy crowds are because nobody was able to travel for so long and people also had to use travel credits/reservations or risk losing their vacations altogether. It will be interesting to see how things are in a couple of years, when the AP holders stop going (and stop renewing their passes) and when the "we'll only go every few years" decide to look elsewhere for a vacation. I mean now regular media is noticing the insane price increases and the "Skimpflation" that's happening. I know Disney has to recoup their losses from being closed for so long, but the regular reports of people having to go and ask for clean towels because of no Mousekeeping and the bad press about not having Trams for so long makes me wonder if that will start to make people reconsider going (once the newness of being able to go wears off).

 

[DCLMP]

Yes it's busy but not like it normally is. I have seen more posts saying people aren't in a hurry to go back.

There are no discounts on hotel rooms and people are still going. I think that says a lot.

 

[Jrb1979]

There are no discounts on hotel rooms and people are still going. I think that says a lot.

I believe a lot of people that are going right now a making up cancelled trips and as she previous poster said from people being cooped up for a while.

 

[lorenae]

Yes it's busy but not like it normally is. I have seen more posts saying people aren't in a hurry to go back.

It’s more packed than ever

 

[Davey Jones II]

That would depend on when...

During peak season the lines are long on weekdays and Express would be worth it. If you go during a slow time you will still find wait times are short on weekdays.

Well, we always went in late October, and we are planning to go at that time of year in 2022. I`m weighing whether or not to stay in one of the Universal partner hotels, like the Hard Rock, to get the EP for free. I`ve heard those hotels are a good value, but we don`t want to pay upwards of $200/night if the lines will be short anyway.

 

[DCLMP]

I believe a lot of people that are going right now a making up cancelled trips and as she previous poster said from people being cooped up for a while.

It depends on where you live if you've been couped or not. I certainly have not been. It may have more to do with limited travel options because certain states are not desirable and international travel is a complete PITA. I still can't wrap my brain around people paying 700+ a night for a standard deluxe room or 300 a night for a value. It's amazing they can get people to pay these rates. Good for them...I guess. We always stayed Deluxe with 35%-40% off or 25%- 30% off a mod. There's a limit to how much I will pay.

 

[pindecisive]

It's interesting when people mention the magic. While at WDW and DL since Covid I've noticed more guests arguing with each other, CMs being less cheerful and more gossipy. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed, but I think what's going on in the world is being reflected in people's experiences. CM's don't feel secure in their jobs, Disney is trimming experiences and dining while asking for more money.

For myself, personally - I try to keep in mind the maids who are out of work because some hotels now don't do daily mousekeeping, the CMs who don't know if they'll have a job next month, and those who lost people close to them to Covid. I lost my uncle, my friend lost his mother. I can only imagine having job insecurity on top of that.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

We cancelled our November trip and went to Hilton Head Island instead. We had planned on activating our APs on that trip but decided to wait. We have a trip planned for February. We were thinking of buying 2-day PHs for that trip. I made dining reservations the other day and just didn't feel any excitement whatsoever. Since then, our adult son has been diagnosed with a serious autoimmune illness and has been very very sick. He will be seeing some specialists over three hours away over the course of the next few months, and he is on waitlists. For emotional support, we will be accompanying him on the visits. Therefore, we are on standby if he gets called for an earlier appointment. We are pretty sure we will be cancelling the February trip. Too much money, too much headache, and too risky to be away from home. We have a friend who wants to rent our DVC points, and we are going to try to sell our Daytona 500 tickets (a planned side trip during our Disney trip). I have to say I don't think I will miss Disney at all. We will go back eventually since we have the APs, but it may be several years before we do.